


Bleaker Truths

by tangentiallly



Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket
Genre: Gen, jacques and olivia are both book versions not netflix versions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25946887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tangentiallly/pseuds/tangentiallly
Summary: Jacques confronts Olivia about the times she gave him false information on Lemony.
Relationships: Jacques Snicket & Olivia Caliban
Kudos: 5





	Bleaker Truths

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: I don't own ASOUE

“I don’t mean to accuse you,” Jacques said, his voice even and calm. “But all the recent information you’ve given me about Lemony’s whereabouts are turning out to be false leads, and all the clues you’ve said that led to your suspicions are turning out to be utterly untrue, too.”

“I’m sorry those didn’t work out, please -” Olivia - or rather, Madame Lulu, since she was still in the act, even if she’s not wearing the full on disguise - began nervously.

“Olivia,” Jacques sighed. “You can drop the pretense. I know who you really are and you know I know it.”

She looked at him for a moment, her eyes still nervous and unsure and pleading, before those emotions disappeared from her eyes and got replaced by tiredness and just a hint of impatience. “What do you want, Jacques?”

“To not be lied about when I asked about my brother,” Jacques said flatly. “If you don’t know, just say so.”

Olivia frowned. “That’s not how I operate.” She pointed out. “My motto is ‘give people what they want’. I answer questions, with the answers in my library. And if I don’t have the answer -”

“You just make something up,” Jacques cut across her. “Yes, I know all about that.”

“Then why do you even complain? You know what you’re getting.” Olivia asked tiredly.

“That’s how ‘Madame Lulu’ operates,” Jacques frowned deeply. “And I’m not talking to you in your Lulu disguise, I’m talking to you, as _Olivia_. The whole Lulu thing is a disguise, a mask - that’s not the real you.”

Olivia looked away. “It gets blurry, the line between disguise on and disguise off. When you wear a mask long enough …” she trailed off.

He looked decidedly unimpressed. “It becomes the real you?”

“Something like that,” she shrugged. “It’s not just an on-and-off switch that can be flipped so easily. I need to … get used to being in the act and I can’t switch that naturally all the time and it’s easier to just stay in the act.”

His expression did not change, nor did he say anything, and she sighed. “Look, don’t you ever feel like that too? Like you’re keeping a mask on so long that you don’t even know how to take it off sometimes?”

In a way, maybe he did. Maybe he knew deep down that he was trying to pretend to be the perfect volunteer without any resentment to the organization. But he was never going to admit it, probably not even to himself, and certainly not to Olivia Caliban who could just give this information to anyone who came along. “No,” he said flatly, refusing to take the mask off, refusing to even acknowledge it to himself.

She laughed, but it was a hollow sound. “Lucky you, then.”

He regarded her coolly, suppressing the flare of annoyance at the notion she considered him lucky. 

Her lips twisted into a bitter smile. “Not everyone’s the standard, perfect, model volunteer like you, Jacques Snicket. Some of us have to cope in different ways. You don’t get to judge us for having our masks and disguises just because you don’t need those, and all your disguises were temporary mission ones. Not everyone survives VFD the same way as you do.”

She thought he’s not surviving in his own way? That’s rich. He almost scoffed out loud, but he didn’t. He had an image to keep, after all. “You chose the neutral side yourself,” he said, all his emotions locked away safely inside him and revealing none. “You could’ve just stayed a volunteer.”

“Thanks for the saintly advice from the perfectly loyal Jacques Snicket,” she said, her voice heavy with sarcasm.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Whatever.” He paused, and decided to try another approach. “Well, what if what I want is the truth? Shouldn’t ‘Madame Lulu’ take that into consideration? What if I don’t want to hear any stuff you made up, just the clues you’ve collected?”

“Wouldn’t you rather have some fake information for comfort? To think that your brother is still out there somewhere? That’s what Madame Lulu could provide -”

“Not if it’s fake. Not if it’s made up.” He said sharply. How could she not get it? He needed the truth, and if he couldn’t have it, he wanted to at least not be told some made up rumors she only made up because she thought it was best to give a false answer than no answer at all.

She looked at him, seemingly displeased at how he was trying to tell her how to do her job. Finally, she snapped. “Fine. If that’s what you want.”

“It is,” Jacques said evenly.

“Right. If that’s all, I have a carnival to run. Please see yourself out.”

**Author's Note:**

> [come say hi on tumblr](https://beatricebidelaire.tumblr.com/)


End file.
